TERTIUS LIBER ROSARII THEOLOGIE AUREI

Hagenau: Heinrich Gran for Johann Rynmann of Augsburg, 1507. FIRST EDITION. 300 x 205 mm. (11 3/4 x 8 1/8"). [165] leaves (lacking final blank). Double column, 57 lines, gothic type.
Contemporary German blind-stamped pigskin over bevelled wooden boards, front cover with frame and central diapered area with round floral and banner stamps, rear boards diapered with stag and acorn stamps, evidence of corner and central bosses, since removed, raised bands, ink titling on spine. Capitals struck with red, paragraph marks and three- to seven-line initials hand painted in red. Front pastedown with bookplate of the Abbey of Andechs; early ink ownership inscription of the Abbey on title page. VD16 P1160; USTC 696152. ◆Pigskin on front cover a uniform milky brown (corners and center of boards much lighter due to removed bosses), first and last leaves with minor marginal soiling, final quire with a couple of short cuts to head margin of leaves (well away from text), otherwise quite a fine copy--clean, fresh, and bright internally, with excellent margins, and in a scarcely worn, attractive, unsophisticated binding.

This is the third volume of a four-part theological encyclopedia by the Hungarian Franciscan scholar Pelbartus of Temesvar, printed in Hagenau between 1503 and 1508. Intended for students, the work is arranged according to the four books of the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard, the standard theological text in the Middle Ages; our third volume covers book III of "Sentences," on Christology. After graduating from the University of Krakow, Pelbartus (1430-1504) joined the Franciscan order and gained renown as preacher, travelling though France, Switzerland, and Germany. He returned to Buda in 1483, to spend the rest of his life teaching and preaching at the abbey there. The "Rosarium" came about as a pedagogical aid based on his experience as an instructor. Pelbartus draws heavily on the Scotist school of thought in this work, quoting from Duns Scotus, Guillaume of Vaurouillon, Peter of Aquila, and Francis of Meyronnes. Our printer Heinrich Gran (d. 1523 or 1524) introduced printing to the town of Hagenau, near Strassburg, around 1489. Between 1497 and 1514, he is known to have printed 27 works (including this one) for Johan Rynmann of Augsburg, considered to be the first non-printing publisher. Preferring to concentrate on sales and distribution, Rynmann hired various pressmen to work for him, publishing almost 200 books but printing none. Gran and Rynmann were the primary suppliers of printed books to Hungary in the late 15th and early 16th century. As the colophon indicates, our volume was sent from its Alsatian press to the Bavarian distributor in Augsburg, and was likely bound in that city. An early ink inscription on the title page notes that this book belonged to the library of the Monastery of Sts. Nicolas and Elisabeth in Andechs, a Benedictine Abbey founded in 1455. The later engraved armorial bookplate of the Abbey on the front pastedown indicates our book resided there for some time, probably until the secularization of the Abbey in 1803. Because the four parts of our first edition of this work were published separately and several years apart, they are rarely found as a complete set. We were able to find just one such copy (bound with another work) in RBH and ABPC, which otherwise listed only a very few stray volumes..